


a whole new world

by hufflebee



Series: queer!izzy verse [3]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, M/M, Sexuality talk, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-17
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2018-11-15 04:54:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11223759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hufflebee/pseuds/hufflebee
Summary: following the gang's movie night, izzy and maia end up sharing a bed





	a whole new world

**Author's Note:**

> in this part of the series, izzy finds herself talking to maia about magnus, magnus and alec, as well as her own ongoing struggle with sexuality.  
> tumblr: hufflebee.tumblr.com

It is well passed midnight when the last movie ends, and almost half of the movie night participants have left. Raphael had left with Luke and Simon a while ago, along with Jace, who had volunteered to go on patrol when the Institute had called an hour ago.

This left only Alec and Magnus, still cuddled together on the love seat; a soundly asleep Clary on the couch, as well as Izzy and Maia. The two of them were sitting on the floor, their backs to the couch. Izzy feels her eyes struggling to keep open and when she looks over at Maia, she sees the same expression of sleepiness on her face.

“You two can stay here, if you want,” Alec whispers, gently getting up and bringing Magnus up with him. Izzy smiles at how Magnus leans heavily against Alec, barely awake enough to stand. “There’s a spare room Jace used to stay in right down the hall.”

“Thank you,” Maia says, her voice quiet and soft, and Izzy can’t help but notice the fond expression on Maia’s face as they both watch Alec and Magnus slowly make their way to their room.

The door shuts and Izzy gets up, moving to turn off the TV. A moment later, she sees Maia get to her feet and start picking up the empty glasses and bowls, carrying them to the kitchen. The two of them clean up in a comfortable silence, before making their way down the hall.

The room is decorated in warm tones, big and inviting, and only has one bed.

Neither she nor Maia say anything about it, silently taking turns in the adjacent bathroom, finding it stocked with extra tooth brushes and toiletries.

When Izzy exits the bathroom, Maia is already in bed, sitting against the headboard. There is an awkward moment of silence before Maia takes the corner of the covers on the unoccupied side of the bed and uncovers it.

Izzy smiles and gets under the covers, still feeling slightly awkward, but the feeling is quieted a bit as Maia smiles at her.

“For a guest room, this is pretty done up,” Maia comments, eyes travelling across the room.

“I expected nothing less from Magnus,” Izzy says.

The corner of Maia’s mouth quirks up, a slightly crooked smile forming on her face.

“True,” Maia says. “How did you meet Magnus?”

Izzy gives Maia the shortest version she can muster of Clary busting into their lives and how that lead them to Magnus. Maia asks questions here and there, but mostly just listens, and Izzy can’t help but notice how easy it is to talk to Maia.

When she asks about Alec and Magnus, Izzy doesn’t fight the grin that spreads across her face, one that stays in place throughout the whole time she talks.

“I have to hand it to your brother, kissing a High Warlock in the middle of your own wedding like that is one of the most badass things I’ve ever heard,” Maia says when Izzy finishes telling her about the weeding.

“I know, I’m so glad he did it, I’m so glad he met Magnus when he did,” Izzy says.

Maia’s expression shifts to the same fond one she had before when watching Magnus and Alec, and she’s silent for a bit, seemingly lost in thought.

Izzy watches her and finds herself thinking she’s beautiful.

Her mind goes blank at that, the learned excuses and defenses coming up inside her mind before she even realizes.

“What about you, when did you meet Magnus?” Izzy asks after a minute, not wanting to get caught up in her thoughts.

“A while ago, he and Luke are great friends, and when I started working at Hunter’s Moon, we would always talk there,” Maia says. “He’s actually the first person I came out to.”

Oh.

“You’re staring,” Maia says, voice hard, and Izzy realizes she is in fact just gaping at Maia.

“Sorry,” Izzy whispers, composing herself a bit, but she can still feel her heart hammering in her chest. “I’m sorry. You surprised me, that’s all.“

Maia eyes her warily, but her shoulders relax after a few moments, and Izzy releases a breath of relief.

“Do you mind me asking how that went with Magnus?”

Izzy knows she might be overstepping, is very likely overstepping, but the question is out before she can think too much about it, or why she’s asking it.

“Not at all. I knew from talking to Magnus that he was bisexual, so when I figured out I was attracted to girls, I not so subtly tried asking him about sexuality. He gave me some advice, something to think about, resources to check out. It took a while, but I realized I was a lesbian. I told Magnus, and he was so great about it, he even brought me a miniature lesbian flag the next time we saw each other.”

Maia is smiling throughout her entire story, relaxing more with each word, confident and sure of herself, and by the Angel, Izzy yearns for that. To know, to be sure of her feelings, to be able to just say it out loud. A logical part of her knows that just because Maia is comfortable now, doesn’t mean getting there was simple, but all she can focus on is Maia’s easy smile.

“You okay?”

Maia’s question breaks her out of her thoughts and Izzy blushes under Maia’s questioning gaze.

“Yeah, sorry,” Izzy whispers.

Maia observes her for a moment before speaking.

“I don’t want to overstep, but if you need someone to talk to, I’m told I’m a good listener.”

Izzy’s eyes widen at that, denial on the tip of her tongue, but she says nothing, only nodding in response. Maia smiles at her, eyes soft and reassuring, and Izzy is so close to just bursting with all the thoughts and feelings bubbling up inside of her.

“I just… I’ve only recently realized there was something to question about my sexuality and every time I try and get too close to thinking about it, my mind goes into defense mode, it’s like I hit a wall whenever I think too hard about it,” Izzy says, and it’s all she can say without the dam breaking, but her eyes stay somewhere over Maia’s shoulder, her heart basically in her throat.

“I get that, it’s perfectly normal,” Maia reassures her. “Heteronormativity is drilled into our heads from childhood, I imagine it’s even worse with Shadowhunters than it is with mundanes or werewolves. It’s hard to work passed that, and it may take you a long time, but I promise you that wall isn’t indestructible.”

Izzy just nods, afraid that if she tries speaking, she’ll start crying and she can’t do that right now, isn’t ready to do that. Thankfully, Maia seems to recognize it.

“Okay, enough serious talk, we should probably get some sleep,” she says and lays down on her side, facing Izzy. “Goodnight.”

“Night,” Izzy whispers back and Maia closes her eyes, seemingly falling asleep almost immediately.

Izzy lies down on her back, her mind reeling with Maia’s words and her own thoughts, but with only the sound of Maia’s breathing to fill the room, sleep is quick to catch up with her.

* * *

 

The first thing Izzy becomes aware of as she wakes up is the arm draped around her waist.

The second thing she becomes aware of is that it’s Maia’s arm.

They must have shifted at some point during the night and now Izzy is lying on her side, with a still asleep Maia spooning her.

A million thoughts invade Izzy’s mind, from poisonous ones sounding like her mother (wrongwrongwrong) to softer ones, comforting ones, ones sounding like Alec (it’s okay, you’re okay, you’re not wrong, this isn’t wrong). She takes deep breaths, tries to focus on each inhale and exhale, on how the air enters and leaves her body.

With each breath, the bad thoughts seem to become quieter, new ones, ones thought in her own voice replacing them (she’s really warm, this feels nice, her breathing on my neck gives me goose bumps).

By the time she feels Maia stir behind her, she’s managed to calm down, even managed to enjoy this for a moment.

Izzy feels Maia freeze behind her, probably also caught off guard by their position.

“Uhm, sorry, I am an extreme cuddler, which I probably should have warned you about last night,” Maia rambles, getting up in a rush, and Izzy immediately misses the warmth.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it,” Izzy says, her voice shy and quiet, and she looks at Maia, who is now standing by the end of the bed.

Izzy notices how wild her hair looks, the light smudges of make up under her eyes, the way her dress fell off her right shoulder, the length of her legs, the legs that were tangled with Izzy’s own just a minute ago.

“I’m gonna go see if anyone else is up,” Maia mumbles, moving towards the door.

“Wait,” Izzy says, sitting up on the bed. Maia turns slowly, unsure. “Are we okay? I don’t want things to be awkward.”

Maia smiles at her, visibly relaxing.

“Yeah, we’re cool,” she says and they watch each other for a few moments before Maia turns back towards the door and leaves.

Left alone, Izzy waits for this to crash around her, but even though she can feel a storm coming, in this moment she feels warm and right, feels the butterflies in her stomach go crazy. She lets herself remember how she felt with Maia’s body against her own and it feels like a whole galaxy being created in her mind.

And later, Maia smiles at her over breakfast with everyone and it’s a thousand new stars suddenly being born. Maia hugs her as she’s leaving and it’s a sun being brought into existence.

Maia texts her with an invitation to get coffee and it’s a whole new world.


End file.
